Yesterday I tried to follow Your suggestion and install SMS in a primary partition instead of, as before, in an extended, logical. Decided to put /home in the root directory just to be sure I didn't introduce any disturbancese.

-The result, I'm sorry to say, was the same as with SMS in a logical partition. Trying to boot from 2.0.9 boot stick, installation CD or EasyBCD->LILO with or without adding the vga=771 parameter (now also in LILO boot for the first time) all ended up the same way: video signal drops after 7-20 s, sometimes with a readable kernel panic at the end.

My 4th SMS installation (the one on a primary partition) suddenly aborted during Network config so it never was configured. Therefore there were no possibility for local connection to SMS2.0.9. -I therefore made a 5th (), still on a primary, but this time with /home on an extended partition. (Under root filesystem made no improvement concering the video signal-graphics).

It seems You presumed that I knew how to login through SSH ! Though I twice said I've never been near it.
OK, 40 minutes later I finally found a way (digging through webmins directories and internet).

Now I was in SMS' system . Could start working in it! lilo.conf, # xconf, /etc/profile.d/lang.sh (sv_SE.utf8), adding a vfat partition to /etc/fstab et c. Tried running sensors and the semigraphical pkgtool and it seemed to work.

First of all, concerning SSH
Can I inactivate proftp in SMS without destroying ssh connections to my server?
I read somewhere that ssh depends on ftp.

Now about graphics, at least a video signal, at best X and KDE.
Do You think there is a possibility to get video signal and graphics running with a monitor directly connected to SMS on the fitpc2? It has worked before with my friends 2.0.7 setup
I really should need X (KDE) working in SMS.
The reason I can orientate reasonably in SMS using text mode is that I have used it so long (2011) with an graphic interface.
Reconfiguring lilo with vga=771 didn't help, Default =normal doesn't work. There are quite a lot of other vga options to try. Will take some time... Where should I start: In the lowest end or highest?
I read the post my passed away friend "hakan" wrote: https://sms.it-ccs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=836&highlight=

Of course, as a secondary way to solve the display issue I could configure and startup tightvnc.
But can I run X through ssh?
I figure it could raise an X problem? That trying makes X on the client machine try to handle the servers X server?
I found this doc:
http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:window_managers:remotex_linux2linux
And under headline "X11 Forwarding Over SSH"
Could that work?

Now I've struggled with this 2.0.9 installation for 8 full days. With my experience from 1.6.0 I thought it would be a piece of cake . Guess this fitpc2 is a tricky piece of hardware? -Without Your help I should have been totally lost. With it I at last could get "into" the Slackware system! And I am most grateful to You!

This thread has become very long, and it's hard to find all information in it .

The backgound to this thread is a small fitpc2 32-bit that has been running Win7sp1, Mint13 since 2011, and SMS2.0.5->7 since 2013. Total uptime 7000 hours. It has been very stable.

Last summer I had a HDD crasch. The disk was unreparable. Before I decided if I should buy a new HDD and install it again I checked CPU with extensive Mersenne prime, and RAM with memtest (also extensive). Found no way to test my bridges (chipset) or gfxcard. The only way I could think of testing them was to make a fresh install of an OS I knew had drivers/modules for the fitpc2. -So, installed Win7 sp1, 32-bit. And Win7 proved to work allright.

After this I tried the SMS 2.0.9 installation. -But as I with the help of gerasimos_h have found along the way, the title of this thread probably is wrong. Should have been "Serious Monitor/Video/Graphics problem in a 2.0.9 on fitpc2? -Probably even my first installation went allright, but I could not "see" it.

OK! Two long threads but what I resume is that you manage to boot up, but without display, running VNC is the same as using for instance teamviewer so you can use full X and it will be lighter as running an X Window on a monitor.

So for now you can use tightvnc until we figure it out.

Our X windows system is quite old, since it's qt-3 and kde3 but I'll try to see if I can rebuilt the package successfully.

I could with Your help first reach the SMS2.0.9 internal system through ssh, made some basic configurations, could then configure and start vncserver in SMS and get a graphic KDE interface in my local client ! Now I can continue with my real server configuration .

Now, You really do not have to bother with rebuilding KDE just for my sake! -From what I understood from my late friend and other friends I am one of very few so depending on a graphic interface. Others work in text mode.
-I have got a suggestion: If You just could help me by answering three last questions, we'll leave the rest (video/graphics with a direct connected Monitor) over christmas for a break? -As You say, this vnc solution is a more lightweight tool in system terms, and in a way it's good enough for me.

-If that is OK with You I would be glad if You just could answer the last three questions:
1. Is ssh in any way depending on ftp or can I safely inactivate the proftp service without loosing my ssh connection? (I've asked it before in this thread).
2. Do You think I can configure X over ssh in the way described in this doc:
http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:window_managers:remotex_linux2linux
under the headline "X11 Forwarding Over SSH"?
3. (Hope You excuse, this is really a matter of a new thread, but it's short and promise not to expand it!)
I noted that the kernel 4.4.22(?) You use in SMS-2.0.9 is newer than the kernel in Slackware-14.2:
When I build packages from slackbuilds or sometimes get them from the slackware ftp repos, shall I build (or download) Slackware 14.0 or 14.2 versions?

1. SSH don't depend on FTP maybe you confused SFTP with SSH, anyway you can close proftpd.

2. VNC is more feature rich, it's like working on the computer itself and it's faster, if you want to connect securely through SSH you can use ssvnc on windows which actually use putty to connect to VNC port via an SSH connection.

3. the problem ain't the kernel, rather the glibc, we stick on 2.15 quite a while, while slackware move ahead. That's been done for having compatibility with older versions of SMS, our distributions ain't desktop oriented, so we like this package stability, so even from SMS-1.6.5 to 2.0.9 packages are compatible for upgrade.
So you should download slackware 14 versions unless 14.2 are working, not all packages are glibc depended.
If you want to build it from source use latest slackbuilds from slackware-current.

2. I decided to try, though I really trust in what You say. -Oh, Yes! : Heavy was only the first name! Resourcedemanding and heavy to work with. I inactivated it.

3. Your reply is really complete and informative! You also gave me an explanation why You've continued with Slackware 14.0 so long. I've been wondering. Thank You! -From what You write I figure I can safely install the x86 Sw 14.0 Slackbuilds I made in SMS-2.0.7 and downloads from Slackware 14.0 x86 ftp repos.

From Your reply I guess You accepted my suggestion of a break. You have helped me out of a situation I couldn't handle myself, gave me a way into the system and a graphic interface! I am very grateful to You!

If I finally should find a way to get the video signal working with a direct connected Monitor I'll post You a line here. -If You should finf one I hope You'll let me know!

I want to wish You a Merry Christmas and, when it arrives, a Happy New Year!

If it should be to any help I can send hwinfo about the gma500, with the setup from my friend, from the time it still was working? From what I remember the ordinary gma500 driver was not loaded. Perhaps he had blacklisted it?

Later I thought I could inderectly read if my late friend had blacklisted the gma module and perhaps added an extra module to load at boot:
-Yes, in /etc/modprobe.d/ he had blacklisted

Code:

blacklist gma500_gfx
blacklist poulsbo

-I guess i Slackware /etc/rc.d/rc.modules corresponds to Arch Linux' and openSUSE's /etc/modules-load.d/ ? -If so I could not read any changes from default (also the same default as in my SMS-2.0.9): The only thing concerning video I could find was

Code:

/sbin/modprobe agpgart 2> /dev/null

was unchanged.

Of course my friend could have built a new graphics module into his kernel, but I've found no way to investigate that.

Without knowing what gfx_card module my late friend had used in SMS-2.0.7, I at least knew he had reported that he had got graphics working in 2.0.7 (the thread I referred above). I also knew he had blacklisted the intel module gma500_gfx. -I decided to give it a try.

First I checked the /etc/X11/xorg.conf I had created through ssh (the solution You gave me. (Just to check if I should have to run # xconf again after the gma500_gfx was inactivated?) To my surprice the created xorg.conf had listed Driver: vesa for the Device card. -So I wouldn't have to reconfigure /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

So I Blacklisted gma500_gfx, rebooted ...and I had graphics and video signal all the way through boot !
And of course I could startx.

As before, in SMS-2.0.7, Control Center reports that for
Resolution 1024 x 768
Refresh rate is 0 Hz
But as I found out before, my CRT-screen seems to have an own indicator (or perhaps fallback refresh rates)
In the Extra Controls I can read that
Resolution 1024 x 768
Frequency 48 k 60 Hz.

I want to thank You for following me all the way through this long thread and giving me two excellent workarounds -ssh and vnc- that made it possible for me to configure and handle SMS-2.0.9 on the fitpc2 machine without video signal from the machine!

Finally I want to wish You a Happy New Year! (Or after a realistic outlook in Europe today, or even wider, should I perhaps say: Let's hope it at least gets decent!)

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